DECnews/Digital Introduces PC Family
Dave Price, UNIX Press Relations 25-Aug-1992 1737
Digital Equipment Corporation
Maynard, Massachusetts 01754-2571
Editorial contact:
Edward J. Canty
Digital Equipment Corporation
508-486-6387 or
Peter Basmajian
Digital Equipment Corporation
508-486-6406
Business Strategy Enhances Digital's Competitiveness...
DIGITAL INTRODUCES PC FAMILY BASED ON
INTEGRATED WORLDWIDE BUSINESS STRATEGY
MAYNARD, Mass.--August 25, 1992--Digital Equipment Corporation
today introduced a family of high-performance, upgradable
desktop PCs and launched a new, worldwide strategy to increase
the profitability of its PC business. Components for the
DigitalR-built, industry-standard DECpcTM LP (Low-Profile)
family will be manufactured at the company's world-class
facility in Taiwan and assembled and tested at seven Digital
"integration centers" worldwide.
Digital launched a full range of 386- and 486-based
desktop systems, starting at $899. The family includes a
66-MHz 486DX2 system that uses Intel's fastest 486 processor,
released earlier this month. Five of the six new models offer
extremely high-performance graphics technology and plug-in
processor upgrades.
The business strategy, according to James J. Liu, vice
president, Personal Computer Group, is designed to increase
Digital's competitiveness, market share and profitability, and
to provide customers with the highest-quality products at
extremely aggressive prices. "We will achieve these goals by
implementing a worldwide `franchise model,' under which all
Digital regions follow similar business practices, and by
tightly controlling all aspects of our entire process of
product engineering, manufacturing, and worldwide distribution
to reduce costs," he said.
One advantage for customers is that Digital can provide
a consistent product on a worldwide basis. For many large
companies, product uniformity is an important purchasing
criterion, because they invest heavily in computer-related
training and need to install applications, networks and
upgraded equipment uniformly throughout the world.
Digital said it will target FORTUNE-class 1000 customers
and the 5,000 largest enterprises worldwide for its new family.
Products will be shipped directly to customers from integration
centers in Springfield, Mass.; Kanata, Ontario, Canada; Tokyo,
Japan; Taoyuan, Taiwan; Sydney, Australia; Sao Paulo, Brazil;
and Ayr, Scotland.
DECpc LP Family Models
The six modular PC family models are configured and
priced to serve a wide range of applications and users. The
models are:
o ENTRY-LEVEL SYSTEM: DECpc 333sx LP uses a 386SX
processor running at 33 MHz, which typically is 32
percent faster than competing 25-MHz 386SX machines.
o CPU-UPGRADABLE SYSTEMS: DECpc 340dx LP, DECpc 425sx
LP, DECpc 433dx LP, DECpc 450d2 LP and DECpc 466d2 LP
are 386- and 486-based units with clock speeds of 40
MHz, 25 MHz, 33 MHz, 50 MHz, and 66 MHz, for
demanding desktop business and technical
applications.
U.S. catalog prices range from $899 for the DECpc 333sx LP to
$2199 for the DECpc 466d2 LP. The family is shipping today,
with limited availability for the next 45 days, Digital said.
Digital will market the new PCs in the United States
through its direct sales force, resellers, and Desktop
DirectTM, its telephone ordering system.
Three-Way Upgradable PCs
DECpc LP models can be upgraded in three ways: The 386 40
Mhz model can be upgraded to any of the 486 models; 486 models
can be upgraded to faster 486 processor speeds, and the speed
of the 486 models can be doubled through the addition of a
clock-doubling chip.
The upgradable systems also include industry-leading
technology specifically designed to run Microsoft WindowsTM
four times faster than similar machines without the technology.
Local-bus video directly connects the video processor to the
CPU, which allows them to communicate at speeds up to 33 MHz,
instead of 8 MHz on conventional machines. The systems also
incorporate GUI (graphical user interface) acceleration, which
recognizes commands used by Microsoft Windows and runs them
faster. The family's Super VGA video supports resolutions up
to 1024 x 768 pixels.
"Windows and menus appear to snap open, and graphs and
diagrams appear instantaneously," said Roger Matus, director of
marketing for the Personal Computing Group.
Ergonomically designed, family models feature a compact
footprint, offer one of the quietest fans in the industry, and
support flicker-free 72Hz monitors that reduce eyestrain. All
models run under Digital PATHWORKSTM, NovellR NetWareTM, and
BanyanR VINES PC networking software.
Strategy Further Detailed
Liu highlighted several key measures that have enabled
Digital to realize substantial cost reductions throughout the
PC business cycle. These include design modularity of the LP
family (80 percent of components are common to the family
members), utilization of the ISO 9000 quality process at its
MRPII Class A Taiwan facility to ensure high quality and to
reduce component waste; new packaging techniques, and new
shipping procedures for system components.
"We were able to borrow from the 'just-in-time' concepts
of matching inventory shipments to actual orders," he said.
"The result is that we can reduce the costs of transportation
and inventory, while keeping product quality and reliability
high."
For example, Liu said Digital's new shipping procedure
calls for standard bulky components such as monitors to be
shipped by sea and high-value items such as motherboards and
daughterboards to be air-freighted. "By setting up the pipeline
in this way, we enable our regions to mix and match their
inventories more easily and react to changing local market
conditions more quickly," he said.
Franchise Model
Liu said that Digital has established a franchise model to
govern the operation of the company's regional marketing
organizations and the seven integration centers that serve
them. "The franchise model ensures that the regions follow
Digital's worldwide business practices," Liu said. "As a
result, customers enjoy major benefits when they buy PCs from
Digital."
"For example, large customers can get the same models
everywhere. These customers save on testing and training,
because application software works everywhere, network
compatibility applies everywhere, the customers' internal
training is valid everywhere, and upgrades are available
everywhere," he said.
The franchise model also provides speedier sales, service
and support, Liu said, because "each Digital region stays close
to its customers, and that's better for local customers than
dealing with large, monolithic suppliers. On the other hand,
our regional operations follow world-class business practices,
and that's better for large customers than dealing with small,
local suppliers. In short, our franchise model offers
customers the best strengths of large and small vendors," he
said.
Liu said Digital test-marketed the business strategy
earlier this year when it introduced a 386-based PC in Asia,
Australia, South America, and Canada. "We achieved tremendous
cost savings using the model, and product quality was superb.
We knew we were successful when we competed against the Asian
clone makers and won a major order for 2,000 PCs with the Hong
Kong stock exchange," he said.
Recent Successes
Digital recently began selling PCs through its Desktop
Direct telephone sales operation and recently acquired
800-SOFTWARE, a large PC software distributor that handles
thousands of world-class application packages.
Digital is seen increasingly as a leading competitor in
the PC market, according to Liu. The company has been recently
rated as the fastest-growing supplier of PCs in the U.S.,
according to Computer Intelligence of La Jolla, CA. Also,
Merisel, Inc., one of the world's largest PC distributors,
recently expanded its distribution agreement for Digital's PC
products. Merisel will carry the new DECpc LP family, Digital
said.
Digital Equipment Corporation, headquartered in Maynard,
Massachusetts, is the leading worldwide supplier of networked
computer systems, software and services. Digital pioneered and
leads the industry in interactive, distributed and multi-vendor
computing. Digital and its partners deliver the power to use
the best integrated solutions -- from desktop to data center --
in open information environments.
# # #
Note to Editors: DECpc, Desktop Direct, PATHWORKS are
trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. Digital is a
registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. Windows
is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft is a
registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. NetWare and
Novell are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. Banyan is a
registered trademark of Banyan Systems, Inc.
CORP/93/781
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